Never Bite Through The Trix

Oneohtrix Point Never has just released the first song from upcoming (and hotly anticipated) album Garden of Delete. What with the many teasers floating about, it has been hard to grasp what is in store. 'I Bite Through It' remains a real headscratcher, in the best kind of way. Starting with stuttering, sonorous synth and hold-pattern beats, it feels like Daniel Lopatin is going for the pop overdose jugular; but as the sounds mount and enter their own grooved paths, something is building. The industrial pounding moments that hit though are cathartic hiccups though - halfway through we hit a Cornelius level of contemplation, a New Age eye of the storm, before all elements meld into each other, guitar adding yet another layer, a flagrant merging of cyber tape manipulations. Preorder Garden Of Delete (out through Warp Records) here.

Brendan Masala's Albums Of 2013 (Top Ten, Hobourable Mention, and Another Fifteen Because Im Fickle)

Happy New Year! Well I guess this list is kinda redundant now, it being 2014 and all. But I had the list kinda written up, so it may as well be here. I won't bother with links and such - you can do that on your own - but rest assured, we have written about these albums, and you can hunt them down quite easily...

1. Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Ready For Boredom

2. Batpiss - Nuclear Winter

3. Michael Beach - Golden Theft

4. The Spinning Rooms - Complicating Things

5. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven

6. James X Boyd & the Boydoids - James X Boyd & the Boydoids/Super Low

7. Pissed Jeans - Honeys

8. Kwaidan - Make All The Hell Of Dark Metal Bright

9. Yes I'm Leaving - Mission Bulb

10. Running - Vaguely Ethnic

Honourable Mention - Ensemble Economique. Brian Pyle's myriad releases were all of a stellar standard this year, and I found it too difficult to settle on just one. You should hunt them all down though - the guy's stretchin the outer limits.

See also - 11. Thee Oh Sees (Floating Coffin); 12. Dollar Bar (Paddington Workers Club); 13. Barn Owl (V); 14. Shocked Minds (Shocked Minds); 15. Violent Soho (Hungry Ghost); 16. Hey Colossus (Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo); 17. Surf City (We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This); 18. Ooga Boogas (Ooga Boogas); 19. Bone (For Want For Feeling); 20. Ovlov (AM); 21. Marnie Stern (The Chronicles of Marnia); 22. Cuntz (Solid Mates); 23. Transistors (Is This Anything?); 24. Popstrangers (Antipodes);  25. Wonderfuls (Salty Town)

The English Lived Within The Songs Of The Living

Experimental music collective Room40's founder Lawrence English released a double digital edition of albums Songs Of The Living and And The Lived In the other week. It is some special field recordings (of fauna and of spaces respectively), collated over a decade,from across the globe — Antarctica, Amazon, Japan, North America, and the UK. It includes a cemetery gate in Hobart that sounds like drone music; the shore of Bribie Island, Queensland; a toy store in Japan; Brazil's howler monkeys; river dolphins and so much more. It's an incredible extension of the outside world and everything in it - a constant source of noise. It also took its toll on English - he was struck by lightning, swam in Antarctic waters to rescue gear, was assaulted by seals, swam with Bota Rosa (Amazonian Dolphins), and travelled deep under the earth in search of quiet space.

He ultimately set out to explore the role of field recordings, and these two totemic volumes stands as a documentation of what makes the art of field recording such a valuable platform for expression and discovery. As English states himself, "Field recording holds a special place in my heart - part active listening, part hunting, part happy accident, part Polaroid, part archive - though wholly personal. No two recordings made in the same place at the same time will be identical and there in lies the beauty of the work." As with all field recordings, especially of this magnitude, it isn't necessarily something that can be played at a purely aesthetic level, but there are still "happenings" within these pieces, like the gradual collapse of a microphone to the ground, abrasively hitting the grass, that hold more narrative weight and wonder than many overtly "crafted" compositions. Well worth exploring.

You can get Songs of the Living and And The Lived In here.

Room40's efforts are seemingly endless, with a few releases on the horizon (and one from Mike Cooper that I'll be talking about shortly) and many a gig. Recently there have been the stunning Oneohtrix Point Never and Tim Hecker shows - tomorrow there is the Damon & Naomi (they of Galaxie 500 - check out an article I wrote about them here, the full version of which will be on this very site tomorrow!) show at the Brisbane Powerhouse, supported by Chapter Music founder Guy Blackman (get tix here - I'll see you there!). English and his merry band of sonic explorers are always searching for amazing local and international acts (without it we wouldn't have had the likes of Grouper, Mist, Mark McGuire and High Wolf reach this balmy climes) so it is imperative that you give them your support.

Lawrence English - Cemetery Gate Hobart Tasmania (from And The Lived In)
Lawrence English - Microphone Collapsing Into Grass Sinclair Wetlands New Zealand (from And The Lived In)

Lawrence English - Daintree Rainforest At Night Australia (from Songs Of The Living)
Lawrence English - Howler Monkey Amazon Brazil (from Songs of the Living)

Oneohtrix Point Never/Oneohtrix Point Never/Oneohtrix Point Never/Oneohtrix Point Never...

We have had quite a few collaborations this year that have left a lot to be desired. One such concoction in my opinion was Ford & Lopatin's Channel Pressure, an album that despite some interesting production and a couple incredible songs, was rather lacklustre and in the end throwaway. It was a major disappointment for me as I'm a fan of one half of the act, Daniel Lopatin, especially under the moniker Oneohtrix Point Never. It took me a while to "get into" him, but Returnal of last year was ridiculously incredible. And the remix he did of the title track with Antony Hegarty? The kid's a genius.

Now we are on the cusp of his next release, Replica, out next week on Mexican Summer (the 8th, same day as Electric Flower's EP actually). And holy shit if he doesn't bring it all back on track once more. There is that elliptical eloquence that wafts in and out of this futuro-Gothic numbers, an effect wholly Lopatin's - all smoke, mirrors and gaudy, glow-in-the-dark skeletons in the closet. Why this isn't the score for every horror remake I don't know - you could just imagine that the music would morph the story into a soft-lens nightmare of sensuously horrific proportions...

An incredible, otherworldly album, pre-order Replica here.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
Oneohtrix Point Never - Sleep Dealer

Sonic Masala's Top Ten LPs of 2010

So this is what it all comes down to, the most important list of them all, Sonic Masala's Top Ten LPs of 2010. So in reverse order...

10. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal

This album took time to grow on me, in fact I think Brooklyn based Daniel Lopatin's beautiful drone masterpiece is still growing on Brendan, but in time I'm sure he'll be won over. From the chaotic noise opening of Nil Admirari to the dense shimmer of Describing Bodies and even its blissed out drone wanderings of Stress Waves - this is a sublimely gorgeous abstract work.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Stress Waves

9. The Young - Voyagers of Legend

Out on Mexican Summer, this Austin rock four-piece seems to have been overlooked by many this year - but not Sonic Masala. The most considered raucous pop-punk album of 2010, jagged and rough but touched with a solemn emotive mood, this is like fighting with tears in your eyes.

The Young - Bird In The Bush

8. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?

Simply this years most beautiful album. The Cleveland trio really have captured something timeless in Does It Look Like I'm Here? With its delicate variations of mood and intensity each track seems to build its own momentum. Something I'm sure this album's reputation will do also, building momentum to be regarded as a modern classic.

Emeralds - Double Helix

7. Drum Eyes - Gira Gira

If there is one album this year that relentlessly pushes the totally insane card, then Drum Eyes' Gira Gira has to be it. Brooding, maximalist sonic expressions of the most warped minds. One minute sci-fi futurisms, the next driving trash insanity. A scarily fun riot of epic soundscapes.

Drum Eyes - 13 Magician

6. My Disco - Little Joy

My Disco is yet another band from Australia I wouldn't have found without Brendan's guidance. Criminally overlooked this year, Little Joy is the Melbourne trio's third LP. Pounding but calm, it is a work of rhythmic subtlety and relentless drive.

My Disco - Sunray

5. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

Right from the start Brendan has been telling me that My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is one of the albums of the year, and just like the 13 year long road its taken Swans to reach this point, it took me a little while to see the true genius of this album. More approachable than the Swans' earlier brutal work but no less uncompromising. Swans with humanity and beauty? Maybe. Epic? Yes.

Swans - You Fucking People Make Me Sick

4. Liars - Sisterworld

Even with its early release Sisterworld was always going to be up there for Sonic Masala. The fifth Liars album is relentlessly tense, full of surreal imagery and anxiety. Strangely it didn't make the impact on the year we thought it would, but for us its the Liars at their most contagious.

Liars - Scissor

3. Zach Hill - Face Tat

Zach Hill is a sticksmith genius, that can't be denied. But Face Tat, his second full solo LP, underlines his credentials as a truly innovative musician. Astrological Straits was truly a bizarre and mesmerizing album, but Face Tat really takes Zach's solo work to a new level with the ferocious style with which he assaults his drums underpinning it all. Intense, deceptive, challenging, Face Tat sounds disorienting and alien at first, thanks partly to Hill's bizarre sound sources - but the more you delve into this 40 minute frenzy the more you are rewarded.

Zach Hill - Memo to the Man

2. Rangda - False Flag

Super groups are a strange thing. Whilst the depth of talent that makes up the Rangda trio is eye wateringly impressive - guitarists Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and drummer Chris Corsano - it can be hard for the end result to be greater than the sum of the parts. However, Rangda's False Flag so is. An uncompromising beast of a record, it is simultaneously brutal and dynamic, subtle and beautiful. Rangda landed and took our breath away.

Rangda - Serrated Edges

1. Women - Public Strain

So here it is, the Sonic Masala best LP of 2010. Surprised? Maybe, but its not a compromise. In fact we really didn't want our end of year first to be just what we agreed upon, this choice has got conviction behind it. Some may have dismissed this album at first listen. In fact I almost did, such was my love of Woman's self titled debut. But give Public Strain repeated listens and its infectious off key claws and howls work their way into your soul. We're not calling Public Strain a grower - oh no, it much more deadly than that.

At first Public Strain's sunny rhythms might come to the fore, but as the drone driven aesthetics build from behind the scenes it becomes a different beast, sweet but sour, bleak but beautiful, crisp but soaked in reverb. Those chirpy tempos hiding its dark noise underbelly waiting to leak into your consciousness. With Women's first outing pop sweetness was kept separate from dark drone noise, but here Women have spawned something of frightening beauty. Public Strain is Sonic Masala's record of the year and its been quality gaining ground since August - now we can't let it go.

Woman - Drag Open

So there you have it, we left the list late so we knew we had everything. There's nothing more annoying than an end of list that drops in early November, we're the polar opposite. So what do you think? Have we missed anything? Is there a gem you'd push to the top? Let us know.

Better later than (Oneohtrix Point) Never...

Ive avoided the incessant hype that has built like a malevolent and impenetrable fugue around Daniel Lopatin. Oh sorry - Oneohtrix Point Never. Or as I have said on a number of times (and im sure it was drunkenly and unimaginatively too...) Oneohtrix Point Whatever...

But this is it. I have avoided the hype, because I havent listened to him. Nup. Not one second of his work has entered my ears. So its easy to write someone off when you live under a rock. And I was quite happy with that.

But half an hour ago I heard 'Returnal' from his latest LP of same name, as reworked by Lapotin and Antony Hegarty. Now Antony (usually with his Johnsons) has never grabbed me either, although I have never been naive enough to ignore this man's innate vocal delivery, let alone to admit it is anything other than transcendental. That said - his music just doesn't appeal to me. For whatever reason, I put him in the same box as Jeff Buckley - great voice, liked (woulda liked) him as a kid, but now its beyond the realm of my senses... But here, a massive reinterpretation on the original, 'Returnal' takes on a dark, plaintive tone due to the sparseness of composition - only Lapotin's piano strokes and Hegarty's silken voice. The result? Magic. It truly is an electrifying ballad, something I didn't expect to hear, let alone like, let alone love. So it isnt standard Oneohtrix Point Never - the electronic glitches are kept to a minimum, mainly to denote crackles of an old track playing on a slightly dusty piece of black vinyl - but it is transfixing in its majesty. Im serious - this is an amazing track. Its been a good day...

Oneohtrix Point Never (feat Antony Hegarty) - Returnal